Untitled
by Wild Dog- untamed cainine
Summary: Jane has alot on her plate with theives in the woods and her friend becoming seriously ill...and to top it off Gunther is a pain in the neck. Rated PG10
1. Chapter 1

"Slay him Jane! Slay his short life butt!" shouted Dragon sitting on the wall as he watched his fiery haired friend duel Gunther. She was steadily driving him back, blocking, parrying, and grunting with each blow she delivered.

_Just think of the practice dummy_ she told herself whilst locking swords with the other knight in training

"Dragon snogger" he cursed at her

"Sheep shagger!" she spat back. Jane sprang to one side catching her opponent by surprise and landed a blow on his thigh. Gunther clenched his teeth and drove his weapon towards her shoulder but his action was blocked by the length of her sword

"Knock his block off Jane!" bellowed Jester. He, Smithy, Pepper and Rake stood behind Sir Theodore as they watched as Gunther swiped at Jane's legs; she jumped and aimed her sword at his chest. He jumped back and tripped over Rake's wooden dragon dung bucket and landed flat on his back. When he lifted his head up the first thing he saw was the blunt wooden end of Jane's sword.

"Well fought, young squires" commented Theodore walking towards them "Most unfortunate Gunter, but a knight must be aware of their surroundings, despite the fact it **should not have been here but were it belongs**" on his last line he turned around and looked at Rake

Catching him on the spot, the royal gardener stuttered "A-ah y-yes, I'll see to it right away Sir Theodore" he quickly scampered to collect the bucket as Smithy returned to his forge and Pepper went back to stir the soup for tonight's supper.

"Say Old Rusty Legs?!" called out dragon as Jane put her sword back in the basket "can Jane come out for a fly now?"

"Yes, she is free to do as she wishes for the rest of the afternoon" with that the old knight pulled Gunther to his feet "You need not only know how to weld a sword, but to practice footwork squire-Gunther if you are to beat you opponent"

"Yes Sir" answered the teen "Thankyou sir"

Sir Theodore headed back to his quarters with his hand on his hilt of the sword.

Jester came up to congratulate his fiery haired friend "Well done Jane! Nothing beats a good morning then seeing Gunther loosing to a bucket"

"Thankyou Jester", she said as she climbed behind Dragon's head "I will see you at lunch. Bye!"

"Bye!"

"Floppy Hat looked a bit pale this morning" commented Dragon as they flew over his mountain. Jane didn't hear him; she was watching the sea and smelling the salty hair

"Pardon?"

"Jingle boy- he looked pale. Didn't you notice?"

"Ah no" thought Jane aloud "I was too interested in the match…but I thought he looked fine"

"There you go see- Short Lives. Don't notice anything… Hey look! It's Gunther's dad's down by the dock! Can I drop dung on 'im?"

"Dragon no!"

"Not even a little one?"

"Dragon, in some ways I am held responsible for the things you do…especially when I'm flying on you. Now come on you overgrown Newt, we've got to seek out the forest, I heard Sir Theodore and Sir Ivan mentioning something about robbers. If we can find their camp we can lead the other knights strait to them"

"Awe fine…spoilsport"

Back at the castle:

Jester had just waved goodbye to Jane and Dragon when Gunther came up to him "I did not loose to a bucket, I fell. Besides, if the darn thing was not there I would have won!"

"-Had you not have lost to a girl"

"Ye- no!" he sighed in frustration "Haven't you got a ballad to write clown boy?"

"Haven't you got footwork to practice?" Jester crossed his arms and stared to walk off towards the kitchens

"Well at least I know my own name!" shouted the squire

Smithy stopped hammering the horse shoe and dumped it in water. Steam hissed up as he stood in his door to watch the fight

Jester stopped in his tracks and turned around

Gunther continued "Yes, is that right? It must be pretty embarrassing not to know one's own name"

"I know my own name, Gunther, but to you it is Jester"

"Oh so the name itself is embarrassing? It makes me wonder what could be more embarrassing then having 'Jester' for a name…"

Jester felt his hands shake in anger "Compare it to Gunter and Jester sounds"- the comedian stopped, put his hands over his mouth and started coughing. Gunther took advantage of the pause

"-Like dragon dung?" he suggested. Laughing, Gunther went over to collect a quiver and bow to practice his archery

Jester stopped coughing and wiped his hands on his jacket. Growling in frustration he headed away from the battle practice area in a fast walk.

"Jester!" called Smithy, jogging up towards him "Do not let his taunting get to you, if you do you will be playing right into his hands"

"Thanks for the advice Smithy, now if you'll excuse me, i have a ballad to attend to" and with that the court jester went to his quarters and was not seen for the rest of the afternoon

awe...poor Jester- please review! just tell me what you think! the more reviews the faster i'll update! ideas are welcome!


	2. cows

Jane returned at sunset, said goodnight to Dragon and went to the table outside Pepper's kitchen where she met her favorite cook serve bowls of hot soup to Rake, Jester and Smithy. Each one of them looked as though they themselves had had a rough day; Smithy's cheeks had black marks running from his ear to his chin where his filthy glove had touched his face; Pig was under the table with her head on her master's foot. Rake had dirt all over his clothes and bore a slight smell of dragon dung, and Jester looked tired- like he would be fast asleep at the bat of an eyelid.

"…I hope you like it, I've been working on this recipe for weeks and I think I've finially got it right" Pepper was saying

The female knight sat herself down next to Jester and took up a steaming bowl "thanks Pepper, I'm exhausted"

"How was patrol?" asked Smithy, blowing on his hot spoonful of soup

"Tiresome. We spent the whole afternoon trying to track down the thieves in the woods and we didn't spot a thing- even with Dragon's keen eyes, but we shall try again tomorrow"

"Why don't you set up a trap?" suggested Jester with a yawn "Let the thieves come to you"

"Champion! But err…how?"

"Maybe you could dig a pit around a chest, drop a valuable and ambush them when they go to pick it up- or follow them back to their hideout…" said the court Jester lying his wrist on the table and leaving his spoon in his bowl "Use someone as bait…."

"Thankyou Jester, those are all wonderful ideas…however the last one does sound a little dangerous"

Rake turned to look at Pepper "This is wonderful Pepper, did you use the baby carrots or my prize cabbages?"

The cook beamed "Both!" she exclaimed happily "as well as turnips, artichokes, and pumpkin!"

The other three looked at their bowls uneasily. When Pepper wasn't looking Smithy emptied his bowl under the table and pig delightfully slurped it off the ground.

"Sounds wonderful" he said placing his bowl back on the table.

Jane had not noticed Pepper and Rake looking at each other with a smile and a twinkle in their eyes, or pig's feast under the table, instead her attention was on Jester. He had not eaten a mouthful since she had been here, and in the dim light his tanned face did look slightly pale, as dragon had said earlier that day

"Jester," Jane said placing a hand on his shoulder "Are you alright?"

"Pardon?" he said, not realizing she had spoken

"Are you alright?"

"Just a little tired…I think I might hit the sack early tonight" Jane's hand slipped off as he stood up "Thanks Pepper. Goodnight"

"Night Jester"

"Nightie night"

Jane watched her friend walk off, stumble, and keep walking. Meanwhile Rake had started up a new conversation

"…I thought I saw a pumpkin that looked just like Prince Cuthbert's head this morning"

Jester reached his quarters and fumbled with the door handle. Pulling it open he trudged into the room lit up by the fireplace. He vaguely heard the door shut behind him and saw his bed little more then a few feet away. Suddenly, his vision started to swim and go cloudy. He tried to take a step and make it to his bed but his knees buckled and the ground came racing towards him. He hit the ground with a thud; he tried to push himself up but he was tired…_so very tried_. And with that final thought swimming through his head his mind sunk into darkness darker then any night

The first thing Jane heard when she woke up the next morning was "Wake up Short Life! Look at the sun! Cows are mooing!"

"What?" she said drowsily sitting up "cows?"

"Yeah! Let's go count them! You and me, before breakfast- what do you say?"

"I say frogs shouldn't be up so early"

"Pleeeeaaassse?"

"Oh fine" surrendered the knight swinging her legs over the side of the bed and pushing Dragon's head back out the window "Just give me a minute to get ready"

_some time later_

"Did you see the way the cows couldn't get up after we pushed them?! MOOOOO!!!" said Dragon laughing as they flew back to the castle "I'm telling you now short-life, you won't get that sort of fun from a book"

"Yes Dragon, all was well until you stirred up the bull"

"Ah yes, aggressive little bugger. But we soon sent him packing….do you think he's managed to get onto his feet yet?"

Laughing, Dragon landed neatly in the courtyard. Jane slid off his neck and went to join her friends for breakfast. There, Rake and Smithy had just finished eating their bread when Pepper came out of the kitchen

"Rake? You don't suppose you could try growing blackberries… that way we would not have to venture so far outside the castle to collect some"

"Yes!" the gardener practically leapt off his seat "and strawberries as well!"

"Morning!" greeted Jane walking towards Pepper, Smithy and Rake, but there was one figure she didn't see "Where's Jester? It's not like him to sleep in so late"

Smithy looked at Rake "He was quiet tired yesterday Jane, maybe a small change couldn't hurt"

"Very well" said the fiery haired girl taking a bite from the left over bread on the table "What say we go get him out of bed now?"

"I'll come with you. I forgot to relies pig from her pen this morning, I can go do that after"

With a nod from the gardener the pair made their way to the court Jester's room. Walking around the wall covered in vines Jane stopped and knocked on the door

"Jester!" she and the black smith called "Jester! The sun is high! You must get up!"

Hearing no reply they banged on the door again. Sighing, Jane pulled open the door and stepped inside with Smithy at her heals. The fire had burnt out during the night and ash littered the fireplace, and so the room was cold. But it was not the fire place that shocked the pair, it was the young man clad in blue lying in the middle of the floor unmoving…

BOM BOM BOM!!!!HAHA! please review! press that "**go**" button! go on! that way I'll try and update faster; scout's honor!

A/N i am not a scout


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